The hit anime “Attack on Titan” released its final season on Jan. 9, 2022, putting an end to nine years of an iconic show. “Attack on Titan” Season 4 Part 2 comes after a much anticipated wait, as the first episode of the show aired 2013. With the air of its final season, “Attack on Titan” is currently the fourth most popular show on IMDB (and 9 episodes in the top 20 highest rated episodes of all time), so let’s take a look back on the show’s nine year run and look at what the show is all about. What makes this show so popular that fans would wait years between each season?

“Attack on Titan” is based on a popular manga written by Hajime Isayama. It has received many awards, including the Kodansha Manga Award, the Attilio Micheluzzi Award and the Harvey award to commemorate both its plot and graphics. Over 100 million copies of the manga were sold by the end of 2019, a number which has only grown since viewers anticipated the release of the rest of the anime. 

Its anime adaptation maintains and even exceeds the manga’s reputation, amassing millions of viewers worldwide and receiving the Animation of the Year award in 2014, alongside winning Best Director, Screenplay and Music. 

The show has also been praised for its dystopian plot, which Maya Phillips of Vulture magazine describes as “a dystopian show with something new to deliver,” something we haven’t seen in a while. 

100 years ago, man-eating giants called Titans appeared and nearly destroyed humanity. The few survivors built three massive concentric walls to protect themselves from the Titan onslaught. But one day, a colossal titan destroyed the gates of the outermost wall, leaving the unsuspecting humans at the mercy of the Titans. 

After Eren Jaeger witnesses his mother get eaten, he swears to kill every last Titan. Seeing the utter carnage caused by the Titans first hand, Eren and his best friends Mikasa and Armin enlist in the military as humanity’s last hope for survival.

The anime is crafted an exceptional and planned out story and continually subverts watchers expectations with plot twists. “Attack on Titan” relies heavily on these plot twists, to the point where it’s impossible to describe the rest of the show without spoiling it. Just know that viewers, like me, have really waited to see how this story truly plays out. 

“Attack on Titan” also doesn’t shy away from its violent and gory storytelling, so watch at your own discretion.

If you’re interested in checking it out, “Attack on Titan” airs in the United States on platforms including Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Crunchyroll and Funimation.